Revised Israeli exit polls put Netanyahu’s bloc and opposition at 51 seats each

Updated exit polls by Israel’s public broadcaster and Channel 13 put Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc and the opposition bloc led by former Israeli Army Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot level at 51 seats each early Wednesday, with 18 seats for Arab parties.

Both projections left the rival blocs short of the 61 seats needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.

Channel 13 projected that Likud would remain the largest party, with 27 seats, followed by Eisenkot’s Yashar party with 23 and former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s Together alliance with 13.

The Joint List was projected to win 11 seats and the United Arab List (Ra’am) seven, giving the two Arab lists a combined 18 seats.

The revised projections erased an initial lead for Eisenkot’s bloc. The public broadcaster and Channel 13 had each initially projected 53 seats for his bloc, 50 for Netanyahu’s and 17 for Arab parties.

Earlier, Channel 12 projected 52 seats for Eisenkot’s bloc, 50 for Netanyahu’s and 18 for Arab parties.

Turnout reached 77.7%, the highest since 1999 and up 7.1 percentage points from the 2022 election, according to the Central Elections Committee.

Vote counting began after polls closed at 10 pm local time (2000GMT) Tuesday. Exit polls are projections, not official results.

Official results are expected to be announced on Nov. 4.